6、The Linguistic Habits of a New Generation

       In the year of 1914 a young girl named Monica Baldwin entered a convent(女修道院),remaining there until 1941 when she returned to the outer world. During these twenty-eight years wars and revolutions had come and gone in Europe. Her uncle, Stanley Baldwin, had led his country for some time. Technical developments had changed the conditions of everyday life almost beyond recognitions, but all these events had left as a matter of fact untouched the small religious community to which she had belonged. In 1949 Miss Baldwin published her impressions of those bewildering(令人困惑的)years of her return to a world in which the motorcar had replaced the horse and carriage and where respectable women showed their legs and painted their faces.

       Yet it was not only these odd sights that surprised her, for she was more puzzled by what she heard. During a railway journey the term “luggage in advance” meant nothing to her, so in desperation she asked the porter to do as he thought best. Reading the newspapers made her feel very stupid, because the writers of reviews and leading articles used words and phrases such as Jazz, Hollywood, Cocktail and Isolationism. These and many others were quite incomprehensible to Miss Baldwin, who was really bewildered when friends said: “It’s your funeral or Believe it or not.” This is a rare and valuable reminder to the rest of us that the English language does not stand still. All language changes over a period of time for reasons which are imperfectly understood. Or rather since speech is really a form of human activity, it is more exact to say that each successive generation behaves linguistically in a slightly different manner from its predecessors(前辈,祖先). In his teens the young man likes to show how up-to-date he is by the use of the latest slang(俚语), but as the years go by some of his slang becomes standard usage and in any case he slowly grows less receptive(乐于接受的)to linguistic novelties(新颖,新奇),so that by the time he reaches his forties he will probably be unware that some of the expressions and pronunciations now being used were frowned upon by his own parents. In this respect language is a little like fashions in people’s dress. The informal clothes of one generation become the everyday wear of the next, and just as young doctors and bank clerks nowadays go about their business in sports jackets, they are allowed into their normal vocabulary expressions which were once limited to slang and familiar conversation.

 

71.Miss Baldwin found the world totally changed because          .

       A.she had worked for a religious community for a long time

       B.she had been cut off from the rest of the world for many years

       C.the community where she lived had been in war for many years

       D.there had been too many technical developments

72.During a railway journey Miss Baldwin          .

       A.found the porter’s words hard to understand

       B.found her luggage too heavy to carry

       C.did not know how to talk with the porter

       D.had to ask the porter to look after her luggage

73.Young people like to use the latest slang because          .

       A.they feel it is easier to use

       B.they believe it will soon become standard usage

       C.they want to show they have caught up with the time

       D.they find it more powerful in expressing feelings

74.Miss Baldwin’s experience shows us that          .

       A.the English language has not changed much

       B.the English language has entirely changed

       C.language doesn’t change at all in the religious world

       D.language changes with the passage of time

75.By the time a man is forty, he will          .

       A.be speaking the same language as his parents do

       B.have changed his way of speaking

       C.not use the slang he liked to use when young

       D.be using less new slang in speech and writing

 

5、       Everybody is happy as his pay rises. Yet pleasure at your own can disappear if you learn that a fellow worker has been given a bigger one. Indeed, if he is known as being lazy, you might even be quite cross. Such behavior is regarded as “all too human”, with the underlying belief that other animals would not be able to have this finely developed sense of sadness. But a study by Sarah Brosnan of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, which has just been published in Nature, suggests that it is all too monkey, as well.

The researchers studied the behaviors of some kind of female brown monkeys. They look smart. They are good-natured, co-operative creatures, and they share their food happily. Above all, like female human beings, they tend to pay much closer attention to the value of “goods and services” than males.

Such characteristics make them perfect subjects for Doctor Brosnan’s study. The researchers spent two years teaching their monkeys to exchange tokens(奖券)-some rocks, for food. Normally, the monkeys were happy enough to exchange pieces of rock for pieces of cucumber. However, when two monkeys were placed in separate and connected rooms, so that each other could observe what the other is getting in return for its rock, they became quite different.

In the world of monkeys, grapes are excellent goods (and much preferable to cucumbers). So when one monkey was handed a grape in exchange for her token, the second was not willing to hand hers over for a mere piece of cucumber. And if one received a grape without having to provide her token in exchange at all, the other either shook her own token at the researcher, or refused to accept the cucumber. Indeed, the mere presence of a grape in the other room (without an actual monkey to eat it) was enough to bring about dissatisfaction in a female monkey.

The researches suggest that these monkeys, like humans, are guided by social senses. In the wild, they are co-operative and group-living. Such co-operation is likely to be firm only when each animal feels it is not being cheated. Feelings of anger when unfairly treated, it seems, are not the nature of human beings alone. Refusing a smaller reward completely makes these feelings clear to other animals of the group. However, whether such a sense of fairness developed independently in monkeys and humans, or whether it comes from the common roots that they had 35 million years ago, is, as yet, an unanswered question.

 

66.Female monkeys of this kind are chosen for the research most probably because they are    .

       A.more serious about what they get

       B.attentive to researchers’ instructions

       C.nice in both appearance and behaviors

       D.more ready to help others than their male companions

67.The underlined statement “it is all too monkey” means that_______.

       A.monkeys are also angry with lazy fellows

       B.feeling bitter at unfairness is also monkey’s nature

       C.monkeys, like humans, tend to be envious of each other

       D.no animals other than monkeys can develop such feelings

68.When one monkey received a grape for free, the other would          .

       A.not be willing to hand over her token

       B.shake her hands and get angry

       C.have to exchange her token for the cucumber

       D.refuse to accept the cucumber

69.Which of the following conclusions is TRUE according to the passage?

       A.Human beings’ feelings of anger are developed from the monkeys.

       B.In the research, male monkeys are less likely to exchange food with others.

       C.Co-operation between monkeys stays firm before the realization of being cheated.

       D.Only monkeys and humans have the sense of fairness dating from 35 million years ago.

70.What can we learn about the monkeys in Sarah’s study?

       A.They can be trained to develop social senses.

       B.They usually show their feelings openly as humans do.

       C.They may show their satisfaction with equal treatment.

       D.They feel angry when they receive small rewards.

4、       Full face transplants are no longer science fiction fantasy, a leading surgeon has said, adding that they are technically feasible(可行的)but ethically complex.

       Peter Butler from London’s Royal Free Hospital called for a debate on the ethics of such an operation made possible by new drugs which stop the body’s immune(免疫的)system rejecting a transplanted face. “It is not ‘Can we do it?’ but ‘Should we do it?’” he told the BBC.“The technical part is not complex, but I don’t think that’s going to be the very great difficulty. The ethical and moral debate is obviously going to have to take place before the first facial transplantation.”

      The British Association of Plastic Surgeons will discuss the microsurgical procedure (微型外科技术), which could give new skin, bone, noses, chin, lips and ears from deceased donors to patients disfigured(毁容)by accidents, burns or cancer. But surgeons could have trouble finding enough willing donors. Butler said his survey of doctors, nurses and members of the public showed most would accept a face transplant but few were willing to donate their own after dying.

       Despite a number of ethical concerns, Christine Piff, who founded the charity Let’s Face It after suffering a rare facial cancer 25 years ago, welcomed the possibility of face transplants. She rejected the idea that the procedure would mean people would end up living with a dead person’s face. “There are so many people without faces, I have half a face… but we are all so much more than just a face… you don’t take on their personality. You are still you,” she told reporters. “If we can donate other organs of the body, then why not the face? I can’t see anything wrong with it.”

 

61.The underlined word “deceased” in the third paragraph can be replaced by “        ”.

       A.living              B.dead              C.disabled         D.dying

62.When Christine Piff says “There are so many people without faces…”, she refers to the people who _________.

       A.are dishonorable and shameless

       B.disagree with the full face transplant

       C.are seriously injured by an accident

       D.are disfigured by accidents, burns and cancer

63.According to the passage, what makes it possible to carry out a facial transplantation?

       A.Drugs are available to stop the body’s immune system rejecting a transplanted face.

       B.It’s morally practical, though technically complex.

       C.Most people accept the idea of face transplants.

       D.There are some people who are willing to donate their faces after dying.

64.What is implied but not stated in the passage?

       A.Christine Piff has been the first lucky patient to receive a face transplant.

       B.Surgeons have difficulty finding enough willing donors.

       C.The main difficulty with the operation lies in the matter of ethics and morality.

       D.Nobody other than Christine Piff is quite in favor of the donation of organs.

65.What would be the best title for the text?

       A.The First Facial Transplantation

       B.Debate on the Ethics of Face Transplants

       C.Face Transplants―No Longer Science Fantasy

       D.Let’s Face It

3、       Recently a couple in New Zealand were forbidden from naming their baby son 4 Real. Even though New Zealand has quite generous rules about naming children, names beginning with a number are not allowed. They decided to call him Superman instead.

       In many countries around the world, unusual names for children are becoming more popular, especially since the increasing trend for celebrities to give their children wacky names. In Britain, you can call a child almost anything you like the only restrictions on parents relates to offensive words such as swear words.(脏话)

       Some parents choose names which come from popular culture. For example, there have been six boys named Gandalf after the character in the Lord of the Rings novels and films. Equally, names related to sport are fairly common since 1984, 36 children have been called Arsenal after the football team.

       Other parents like to make up names, or combine names to make their own unique version, a method demonstrated by Jordan, the British model, who recently invented the name Tiaamii for her daughter by combining the names Thea and Amy (the two grandmothers). She was quoted as saying that the accent and double letters were added to make the name “more exotic”

Other countries have much stricter rules when it comes to naming children. Countries including Japan, Denmark, Spain, Germany and Argentina have an approved list of names from which parents must choose. In China, there are some rules about what you may call a child no foreign letters or symbols are allowed. As a result a couple were recently banned from calling their baby @.

       In Britain, some names which were previously thought of as old-fashioned have become more popular again, such as Maisie or Ella for a girl, or Alfie or Noah for a boy. But the most popular names are not the odd ones. The top names are fairly traditional Jack, Charlie and Thomas for boys and Grace, Ruby and Jessica for girls.

 

56.According to the first paragraph, in New Zealand         .

      A.there are many rules about naming children

       B.no people are willing to use 4 Real as names

       C.people have much freedom to name their children

       D.traditional names are losing their popularity

57.The underlined part “wacky names” in Paragraph 2 refers to names that are       .

       A.strange                B.admirable             C.traditional            D.popular

58.Which of the following names is best accepted according to the passage?

       A.Arsenal.              B.Charlie.               C.Tiaamii.               D.Noah.

59.The two couples in China and in New Zealand have something in common that       .

       A.their preference is foreign names           B.their attempt goes against rules

       C.they hope their child grows healthily      D.they show no interest in tradition

60.What can be concluded from the passage?

       A.Parents have no right to name their children in Spain.

       B.Tiaamii will soon be a popular name among the British.

       C.No parents speak bad language to their child in Britain.

       D.Popular culture has an influence in naming children.

2、       Once upon a time the colors of the world started to quarrel. Green said, "Clearly I am the most important. I am the sign of life and hope. I was chosen for grass, trees and leaves. Without me, all animals would  36  ."

       Blue interrupted: "You only think about the   37  , but consider the sky and the sea. It is the water   38  is the basis of life and drawn up by the clouds from the deep sea. Without my peace, you would all be   39  ."

       Yellow chuckled(笑道), "You are all so serious. I bring laughter, fun and   40   into the world. "

       Orange started next to blow her trumpet, "I am the color of health and strength. I may be  41 but I am precious, for I serve the needs of human life. When I fill the sky as the sun rises or   42  , my beauty is so striking that no one gives another   43   to any of you."

         44  could stand it no longer he shouted out, "I am the ruler of all of you. I am the color of danger and of bravery. I am willing to   45   truth. I am also the color of passion and of love.” Then came purple and indigo(深蓝色)…

       The colors went on boasting, each convinced of his or her own   46  . Their quarreling became louder and louder. Suddenly there was a startling flash of bright lightening thunder. Rain started to pour down   47  . The colors crouched(蜷缩)down   48  , drawing close to one another for comfort.

       In the midst of the clamor(叫嚷), rain began to speak, "You   49   colors, fighting among yourselves, each trying to dominate   50  . Don't you know that you were each made for a special purpose,  51   and different? Join hands with one another and come to me."

       Doing as they were told, the colors   52  and joined hands. They formed a colorful  53  . From then on, whenever a good rain  54  the world, a rainbow appears in the sky. They remember to  55  one another.

36.A.go out

B.leave off

C.die down

D.pass away

37.A.earth

B.moon

C.star

D.sun

38.A.what

B.which

C.that

D.this

39.A.anything

B.nothing

C.something

D.everything

40.A.warmth

B.sadness

C.depression

D.anxiety

41.A.usual

B.normal

C.common

D.scarce

42.A.drops

B.falls

C.sets

D.slides

43.A.gift

B.honor

C.thought

D.respect

44.A.Black

B.White

C.Purple

D.Red

45.A.bring about

B.fight for

C.struggle with

D.bend over

46.A.superiority

B.reputation

C.weakness

D.disadvantages

47.A.steadily

B.quietly

C.violently

D.deliberately

48.A.with care

B.in fear

C.by chance

D.on purpose

49.A.foolish

B.pretty

C.attractive

D.disgusting

50.A.each other

B.some other

C.the other

D.the rest

51.A.simple

B.ordinary

C.familiar

D.unique

52.A.combined

B.connected

C.united

D.attached

53.A.world

B.rainbow

C.appearance

D.circle

54.A.cleans

B.washes

C.brightens

D.dampens

55.A.appreciate

B.compromise

C.help

D.influence

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